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Completely agree with Louise's review, and only wish we'd realised in time so could have returned the cage too. Despite the cost, it's cheap and flimsy. A piece of plastic that holds the tube cracked. We e-mailed the manufacturer to see if we could get a replacement for the piece. Did they bother to reply? No. I suppose once they've got your money.... In the meantime our hamster managed to push it's way through and escaped and we couldn't find him again. We've never lost a hamster before, despite years of keeping them. We obviously won't be buying anything made by Savic again.

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If you have one, it's not the end of the world - but if you're buying, there's better out there.

The Peggy Metro is made by Savic who are a fairly big name in rodent housing and one of the top designers and producers of cages sold on the UK market. That's not to say that they don't get it wrong sometimes. This isn't one of their best efforts (I prefer the Cambridge and the Hamster Heaven which both have more space) but it isn't the most horrendous cage I have seen either.

The dimensions of the cage are 37 x 50 x 40cm, so the floor space is average given that there is also a platform, but I personally prefer more room for a Syrian hamster. Due to the bar spacing and the fact that there are platforms and tubes, this cage is not suitable for pairs of dwarf hamsters or single Roborovski or Chinese hamsters. However, the tubes are quite a decent width, many cages (such as the Rotostak models) supply tiny narrow tubes that hamsters often get stuck in. There should be no issues with these tubes as they are a good diameter, though there are some sharp turns which can be a little awkward to negotiate. My hamsters have the same tubes on a Hamster Heaven and they have never become stuck, and my hamsters are bigger than the average petshop hamster.

The tubes are not the easiest thing to assemble or clean, though, and I have had one hamster push them apart and escape. It is also not uncommon to find that hammie sleeps in the tubes (not great for health as ventilation is poor and they can get quite hot and sweaty), or wees in the tubes - then walks through the urine, getting it all over their fur.

The wheel supplied with the cage is too small for an adult Syrian hamster and will need to be replaced as a baby hamster grows. The tip here is: if a hamster has to arch its back to run in the wheel, the wheel is too small. It's not comfortable for a hamster to run like this, and not good for them. A minimum 8" diameter wheel is recommended for most adult hamsters.

I've found that the build quality for this style of Savic cage is perfectly acceptable in general, the shelves are sturdy and the base is a good depth and should prevent hammie from throwing shavings around too much.

It should retail at around £40 - 50. This is about average for a cage of this type, but if you shop around you will find that you can buy cages with much more floor space for around the same price if not cheaper (take a look at the Equine Canine Feline website for some examples). Floor space is really the key - I have 20 hamsters and they all have cages at least 70cm long - and unless you are happy to keep dismantling and cleaning awkward tubes it's better to get a cage without them and add your own large cardboard tubes that you can buy from Wilkinsons or most pet shops, or wooden tunnels etc.

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Avoid!

A couple of months ago I was going to get my hamster out of his cage and I managed to knock the Perspex front on to the floor. A huge crack appeared from top to bottom immediately and whilst my hamster couldn't escape I was worried it would harbour germs plus it looked very unsightly! A friend took me to pets at home the next day to buy a new cage even though I really couldn't afford to be getting one! In the store I decided to purchase the Peggy metro hamster cage by Savic which cost £40.00 and with this I received a pack of small wood shavings, some food and some bedding to go with the set.

The cage is 37x50x40cm approximately and is suitable for use by one Syrian hamster. As I only have Jasper at home this seemed to be fine for us. The cage consists of a red base, an upper cage, a food bowl, play tubes, a wheel, a water bottle and a hide away home. There is also a blue platform and ladder type thing for your hamster to climb up on. Looking at the cage in the store it seemed like it was going to be a great purchase but sadly I was wrong.

My problems began when I got the cage home and went to start building it. Ok, I know a hamster cage isn't the most complex of things to build but there were no instructions at all. I was literally given the cage with all these tubes to build and attach with no help what so ever and it was quite daunting to be honest. I brought up the web page on my PC so I could at least have a look at what it was meant to look like and after a while I managed to get all the tubes on. When all the tubes were attached I noticed that there was a slight gap between the plate which was holding the tube into the main part of the cage and the bars. Whilst I am not suggesting that Jasper definitely could have squeezed through it there was definite movement in the plate which meant I wasn't entirely confident with the security of the cage.

The next issue I had was attaching the wheel to the cage. Whilst this was straightforward it seemed to lean into the bars so was hard to move and once I did get it going round it made a really horrendous banging sound on the bars which I wasn't happy with either.

The platform for the hamster to climb on felt incredibly flimsy and when this was attached it either meant that there was a huge drop from the tunnel for my hamster, or a very steep climb to get up to the platform. Jasper was keen on neither of these options and pretty much refused to use the platform. In keeping with the flimsy plastic of the platform the hideaway house was also very flimsy. It was cute in that it was a little blue house with a window, door and chimney but this was as good as it got. When Jasper tried to get in the house it tipped over and he avoided it from then onwards instead deciding to drag some of the bedding to his tube and sleeping there.

The feeding bowl in the set was pathetic in my opinion. It was tiny and I wondered how I was supposed to feed Jasper properly with the tiny bowl.

The only good thing about the cage was that the bottom of it seemed of a reasonable size and Jasper would sometimes like to go and hide under the platform part.

I contacted pets at home the day after I had bought the cage by email and explained to them that I felt that this product was in no way worth the money I had spent on it and that I was very disappointed that they were marketing it by giving free items with it as a "star buy". They were very good though and advised me to take the cage back and they would swop it for another one that I wanted and so I went straight back to the cage Jasper had before and had loved!

As I am sure you can tell there is no way in this world I would recommend this cage. Having looked on the pets at home website people have actually awarded this cage 5 stars but I have no idea why! To me it felt cheap and nasty and Jasper just wasn't comfortable or happy in there. One star I am afraid!